This application relates to copending application Ser. No. 07/995,281 filed herewith for "A Method and System for Automatically Inspecting Ophthalmic Lenses," now abandoned, to copending application Ser. No. 07/994,565 filed herewith for "Illumination and Imaging Subsystems for a Lens Inspection System," now abandoned, to copending application Ser. No. 07/995,654 filed herewith for "A Method of Inspecting Ophthalmic Lenses," and to copending application Ser. No. 07/995,622 filed herewith for "An Apparatus for Carrying Ophthalmic Lenses" now abandoned.
This invention generally relates to systems for inspecting ophthalmic lenses, and more particularly, to a high speed, automated system for inspecting contact lenses.
Contact lenses are, typically, made with a high degree of precision and accuracy. Nevertheless, on rare occasions, a particular lens may contain some irregularity; and for this reason, contact lenses are inspected before sale to the consumer to be certain that the lenses are acceptable for consumer use.
In one type of prior art lens inspection system, an illuminating beam is transmitted through a lens and then focused on a screen to produce thereon an image of the lens, and an operator looks at that image to determine if the lens contains any irregularities. If any irregularity or flaw is found that makes the lens unsuitable for consumer use, the lens is either removed from the inspection system or otherwise identified so that it is not subsequently sold to a consumer.
This prior art inspection system is very effective and reliable; however, the system is also comparatively slow and expensive. This is primarily because a human operator must focus on the lens image produced on the screen and check that whole image for any irregularities. It is thus believed that the prior art system can be improved upon; and in particular, it is believed that the cost of the lens inspection can be reduced and the speed of the inspection can be increased by providing an automated system to perform these inspections.